I hope everyone was able to enjoy some down time and celebrate the holidays. This is a very busy time of year, and with our fiscal year-end of November 30, we have a lot to get done as we transition into 2023. I want to highlight the success we enjoyed in 2022 and what we are looking forward to in 2023.
First off, our safety record will finish with a record-setting 6.2 million hours worked in 2022. We had five lost workday cases and 439 lost days between the five cases. While some of these are outside of our control, we can all agree that any injured person is one too many, and every day one of us is physically unable to work is unacceptable. While Ames continues to lead the industry, we know we can do better. The reality of the entire construction industry is that we can eliminate the lost-time injuries by how we hire, train, and mentor every employee on our projects. We will have more discussion and focused training on how we help everyone to be more accountable and empowered.
The work we do is meaningful, but it is not easy.
The work we do is meaningful, but it is not easy. It can be challenging personally, professionally, mentally, emotionally, and physically. We will add more resources to help team members thrive in 2023. Peer-to-peer assistance, education, and tools will be launched to supplement the culture of family and care that has existed over the past 60 years.
In 2023 we will develop additional quality metrics to share with everyone. As an industry leader in quality, Ames is continually working to improve the quality of our work and processes.
Financially we had a record year in terms of revenues and profitability as we grew to more than $1,500,000,000 in sales. We enter 2023 with a record backlog as well with some projects and awards taking us beyond 2025. We are financially strong and our future is bright.
Despite the challenges we face every day, including the supply chain, COVID, war, chip and material shortages, and inflation, the year has gone well. The overall backlog number is very good, but I want to discuss the mix of work and why we pursue specific kinds of work. While we do many different types of projects, we are largely focused in the following areas:
- Transportation
- Commercial and Industrial
- Mining
- Railroad
- Solar
- Water Resources
- CCR and Environmental
- Mass Transit
- Power
- Federal
Each of these areas has different characteristics, challenges, and opportunities. In addition, we pursue work based on our qualifications and as hard bid opportunities. The negotiated work might be offered as:
- Design-Build
- CMGC
- P3
- Progressive Design-Build
Each of these areas and types of work is available in record-setting volumes, with railroads, mines, water, solar, power, and infrastructure all approaching record funding levels. Because of this, we are being very intentional about our work pursuits based on people needs and availability, type of work, client relationships, and risk. As we balance these factors, we work to secure a healthy backlog out as far as possible to provide security to our team members. We want you to be assured that Ames will be building high quality and challenging work for years to come.
We are finalizing the 2023-2028 Strategic Plan, and more communication on the plan will be coming in the first quarter of 2023. The bottom line is that the goal of Ames is to continue to build on the legacy and opportunity of the Ames founders, leaders, and family.
We are stable, strong, and poised for the future. Our founders have given us a great opportunity, and it is up to every single person in our company to turn this opportunity into continued success. With everyone’s contributions, we expect 2023 to be another great year, and everything points to more great opportunities on the horizon.
